(INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines – A proposal that would create a 30-year National Infrastructure Program (NIP) has been approved by the House of Representatives on third and final reading.
During the House’s session on Monday, 254 lawmakers voted in favor of House Bill (HB) No. 8078, while three voted against it, and none abstained.
HB No. 8078, or the proposed 30-Year National Infrastructure Program Act, seeks to create “a long-term national infrastructure program” for the next 30 years which would ensure that the government continuously develops “essential infrastructure systems on transport and logistics, energy, water resources, information and communications technology, social, agri-fisheries modernization and food logistics, and other basic overhead facilities in the country”.
If the bill is enacted, a new system of classification of buildings, zoning, fire requirements, environment protection, and design requirements will be enshrined.
During the committee hearings for the bill, House Committee on public works and highways chairman and Surigao del Sur 1st District Rep. Romeo Momo Sr. said that the proposal would create a National Building Office tasked to craft rules, approve changes to building standards and issue orders on demolition will be created.
Momo said this would ensure that the country’s building standards are up to date, considering that the current building code is already old.
“The bill will provide for the minimum standards for the regulation of location, planning, design, construction, occupancy, maintenance, and demolition of buildings, the establishment of a permitting process based on their classifications, and the setting of reference standards,” Momo said in the bill’s explanatory note.